University of Mississippi Lowers State Flag With Confederate Symbol

The University of Mississippi lowered the state flag, which features the Confederate battle emblem, from a prominent place on campus early Monday, responding to growing calls from student leaders for its removal.

Without fanfare, police officers furled the flag in a quiet end to a contentious campus debate, which has mirrored disputes over the flag throughout the South.

“The University of Mississippi community came to the realization years ago that the Confederate battle flag did not represent many of our core values, such as civility and respect for others,” Morris Stocks, the university’s interim chancellor, said in a statement. “Since that time, we have become a stronger and better university. We join other leaders in our state who are calling for a change in the state flag.”

The school’s N.A.A.C.P. chapter held a rally on Oct. 16, and the student government voted last week, 33 to 15 with one abstention, to request that the university remove the flag. Other campus organizations, including the faculty senate and the Graduate Student Council, joined the call within days.

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The Mississippi state flag and the American flag flew on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss., earlier this month.CreditBruce Newman/Oxford Eagle, via Associated Press

Like several states in the South, Mississippi has been wrestling over its identification with the Confederate symbol, which was added to its state flag in 1894. Some state leaders condemned the university’s move.

“Universities are supposed to be marketplaces of ideas, not cocoons designed for coddling the feelings of the perpetually offended,” State Senator Chris McDaniel, a Republican, said on Facebook, adding: “It’s our state flag, first by adoption then by referendum. Ole Miss should fly it, as long as they remain a publicly funded university.”

“Mississippians overwhelmingly voted in 2001 to adopt the current Mississippi state flag,” Mr. Bryant said in a statement. “I believe publicly funded institutions should respect the law as it is written today.”

He was referring to a portion of the Mississippi Constitution that says the state flag “shall receive all of the respect and ceremonious etiquette given the American flag.”

Lee Tyner, general counsel for the University of Mississippi, told The Clarion-Ledger that the school had “not turned up any law that applies to the display of the state flag at public universities and other state agencies.”

The flag will be preserved in the university archives, the school said in a statement.

“As Mississippi’s flagship university, we have a deep love and respect for our state,” Mr. Stocks said. “Because the flag remains Mississippi’s official banner, this was a hard decision. I understand the flag represents tradition and honor to some. But to others, the flag means that some members of the Ole Miss family are not welcomed or valued.”

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 16 of the New York edition with the headline: National Briefing | South; Mississippi: University Removes State Flag With Confederate Battle Emblem. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe